


To Cut a New Path

by writteninweakness



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Gen, Pre-Relationship, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-08
Packaged: 2020-11-27 12:34:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,742
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20948423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writteninweakness/pseuds/writteninweakness
Summary: Byleth confronts Dimitri about his discovery after they eavesdrop on their enemies.





	To Cut a New Path

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was born out of frustration with the Blue Lion Route. Don't get me wrong, it is unlikely I would ever pick a different house. I had thought Dimitri was a little over the top and wasn't going to pick him, but I didn't see anyone I liked better, so I did, and I fell hard for his character. All he endures and how it hurts him and how he tries to fight his way back from it eventually... that speaks to me in so many ways, so he is my favorite, and learning about the other routes, I don't want to go down a path where I can't help him.
> 
> Still, I'd be lying if I said I was happy about everything that happens. Even just a short list of what I feel went wrong with the route makes this author's note too long to keep, so I will put a few of them at the end instead.

* * *

“The dagger was Edelgard’s.”

Dimitri stilled at the professor’s voice. Though she spoke quietly, there was hardened steel in her words, an underlying conviction that as much as he wanted to deny the truth of her words for his own sake, he knew he could not. He’d recognized the dagger the Flame Emperor threw at him, could not forget it, and while desperate parts of his mind had tried to will that knowledge away, explain it with clumsy lies like Edelgard losing the blade or even giving it away, he knew that was not true.

Edelgard had been using it the same day the Flame Emperor threw it at him.

His childhood friend, the one from some of his most cherished memories, she was the same person who had slaughtered his family and left him for dead. He had survived that nightmare only to be trapped living in one, always hearing their voices crying out for revenge. He often wished he’d died that day, and knowing that it was someone he’d trusted and still cared for who had done such a thing…

It wanted to break him more than that day already had.

The professor reached out and placed her hand under his chin, forcing him to raise his head and look at her. “I know. I am not a fool. You would not have reacted to that dagger if it did not have significance, and since I already know of your gift to Edelgard… it was not hard to figure out.”

“Professor...”

“I know why you would not want to believe it. Though few have ever earned my trust outside of my father and his mercenaries, to have one of them betray us cut deep. It is not a feeling I would wish on anyone, even if I was… number about it than my father was at the time,” she said, and he could hear the pain in her words at the mention of her lost father. “All the same, Dimitri… to ignore this, to keep it to yourself...”

“I...” He has no excuse for it. He didn’t know that he was going to kill Edelgard himself as much as he wanted to, as much as those ghosts demanded blood from his hands. He could have done so already if he wanted to, and he knew that. He did not fool himself into thinking he could not win against Edelgard or that he’d have to wait to take his revenge. He could have killed her in her sleep on many of these nights.

He’d done nothing. He said nothing. He let Edelgard live and get away with her crimes even as his nightmares became worse and the aching in his head nearly unbearable. He didn’t know what caused that weakness. Hadn’t he wanted nothing but revenge for four years now? Why did he hesitate?

Byleth’s hand moved to his cheek. “You can’t spare yourself the pain of the truth, no matter how much you might wish it.”

“I know. I know what it means. I know what I should do. What I do not know is why I have not already done it.”

She smiled again, that mesmerizing one that once again threw him for a loop. “I do.”

“Oh?”

“Do you not recall what you said to me about not wanting to follow someone who could kill without feeling? How you were frightened by your own actions? Your ability to be violent? You are a good man. You do not want to kill anyone you do not have to, even if that is at war with some part of you that thinks you must or even… thinks you want to. That is not you. You are a kind man who thinks of others and does not want the reality of war—of farmers forced to take up arms against a foe they cannot hope to defeat or even… knights who know battle falling in the same war. You are not the darkness within you.”

He winced. “I do not think—”

“I fear,” she swallowed, as if the word were foreign to her. “I _fear _that you could lose yourself to it. That you might become just as lost to me as my father is.”

He covered her hand with his. “I am still alive.”

“And I want to keep you that way.” She closed her eyes this time. “There is more. It is not just Edelgard. It is… I have learned things. Possibly terrible things. About myself. About… Lady Rhea.”

Dimitri frowned. “You’re not going to tell me that you now sympathize with Lord Lonato and the Western Church, do you?”

She shook her head. “No. That’s not it. It’s… Here. You can read it for yourself.”

Dimitri took the book from her. “Is this…?”

“Yes. My father’s journal. Start here,” she said, pointing him to the page. Almost against his will, his eyes follow her finger and the text there want to haunt him as much as his own demons did.

_The baby doesn’t cry._

_There is no heartbeat._

Dimitri forced his eyes back to Byleth. The words and the fears of Jeralt unsettling him now as well.

“I do not know what she wants from me,” Byleth admitted, “but my father was terrified of her, and I don’t think I should ever have come here. Even as much as I value my time with all of you, as much as it… gave me things I never had and forced me to learn things I did not know… I… I may be doing more harm than good. I bear the crest of Nemesis. I am dangerous.”

He shook his head. That was not true. He did not believe it of her. “No. Not you.”

“There is a darkness in me. You know that. We spoke of that before as well.” She gave him a sad smile that time. “You thought I had no humanity, remember? Do not deny it. I could be something terrible.”

“Professor—”

“I don’t want to stay here and become that. And I don’t like being used. Even if it’s not the church, our enemies have been able to manipulate us time and again.” Her hand balled into a fist. “I am done being a pawn.”

He studied her, annoyed by that strand of hair that was once again obscuring his vision. “What do you intend to do?”

“You said my enemies were your enemies.”

“Yes.”

“You said you’d kill anyone I asked you to.”

He had. He did not intend to take back those words, but he tensed all the same. He was capable of many things, things he did not want to think about, such acts of depravity, and yet he was also  aware that even he had limits.  “Are you going to ask me to kill Lady Rhea?”

Byleth shook her head. “I’m not suicidal. I don’t know what Rhea’s plan is or what she wants me for, but I do know going after her now would only mean death. We saw her in battle, remember? When the Western Church attacked us in the fog? She did not need our help to defeat them.”

He nodded. That he did remember, could not forget. Lady Rhea was a powerful woman. Going against her was suicide, between the protection around her and her own skills. “Then what are you asking of me?”

“I intend to take the fight to my enemies, starting with Edelgard. I can do it alone. I will if I need to, but I would rather fight with you at my side.”

“You have a classroom full of loyal—”

She shook her head. “I will not draw the others into this.”

“You seek to protect them?”

“No.”

“No?”

She took back the book. “You all speak of my gift at strategy, but do you know how tiring it is to arrange so many in battle? To make the decisions it takes to keep someone from dying? Or to move knowing that they will die anyway? I  do not want to worry about anyone else while I chase revenge. And… I do not want to care, either.”

He could almost understand that. Having so many around—Dedue, in particular—that always wanted to help him, protect him, or even just serve him—was very tiring at times. He should be used to it, but he wasn’t. He wanted to be a person first, a prince second, or perhaps even third. He’d rather be a skilled fighter over royalty. He wouldn’t shrink back from his duty, but he  had so many obligations he could almost take his pick of which one to uphold—almost.

He had to have his revenge to quiet the voices of the dead.

“Then… if you do not wish to care or worry about someone, why ask for my assistance?”

“Do you wish for me to say that I cannot leave you behind?” Her smile now was teasing. He grimaced to realize it had worked. He felt his cheeks heating up with embarrassment. Then her smile disappeared. “You and I are on the same path. Our enemies are the same, as you said. And if I were to deny you the revenge you need to silence your demons… No, you would follow me anyway. I know that of you by now.”

He had led the others after her in Zanado. That much was true. Also true was her statement about how he would not—could not—allow himself to be denied his revenge.

“Come with me,” she said. “We will end this together.”

He knew he should object. He should remind her of the resources they had here, ones he’d intended to use for his own revenge. He should  say that the others would be of use, that they should include more of them, but he had never done that himself. He trusted so few, confided in nearly no one—she was the first he’d told the truth of his demons. Felix, for all he called Dimitri a boar, had not true comprehension of what he was or what he might do.

Even Dedue, close as he was, did not know.

Looking at her, he felt somehow she did, that even if he fell to darkness, she could bring him back to the light. That was foolish, a childish fantasy he should let go of, but he found he could not, not when he was with her.

“Yes. We will.”

**Author's Note:**

> So... there. This was me trying to address a few things with the Blue Lion route. I can't fix them all in such a short fic. There's a few giant plot holes, the lack of explanation is somewhat irritating, I want to smack everyone post timeskip because none of them do what they should when Dimitri is off the deep end. Then people die unnecessarily, and that is just galling.
> 
> In addition, the super smart professor somehow misses an obvious connection, ignores Dimitri's odd behavior, and rushes in like an idiot. I'm never a fan of those plots, and that this particular decision cost us an interesting ally (I wanted to see much more of Sothis) just irritates me. Also, why for the love of all that is holy does Byleth trust the church after reading her father's journal?
> 
> All of that led to a couple of massive AU ideas, but I am having trouble finishing things of late, which my works list shows. I kept this to a single part even though it's really just the start of something, but it did reach a conclusion of sorts, so I will let it end where it does. I have to, since I currently am trying not to write a crossover only I will read and avoiding other AUs while playing the game again until I can't keep my eyes open. I was hoping that writing this would get Fire Emblem out of my system. I need my life back.


End file.
